The Ethical Debate of Maternal Choice and Autonomy in Cesarean Delivery

Cesarean delivery as a result of maternal request is increasingly popular, leading to important ethical questions. One of the challenging issues is balancing respect for the autonomy of a pregnant woman with concerns of beneficence and nonmaleficence for her and the fetus. The perceived benefit of c...

Full description

Saved in:

Bibliographic Details
Published in:	Clinics in perinatology Vol. 35; no. 2; pp. 455 - 462
Main Author:	Williams, Helen O., MD
Format:	Journal Article
Language:	English
Published:	United States Elsevier Inc 01-06-2008
Subjects:	Beneficence Cesarean Section Choice Behavior - ethics Female Humans Informed Consent Neonatal and Perinatal Medicine Personal Autonomy Pregnancy Randomized Controlled Trials as Topic - ethics
Online Access:	Get full text
Tags:	Add Tag No Tags, Be the first to tag this record!

Description
Summary:	Cesarean delivery as a result of maternal request is increasingly popular, leading to important ethical questions. One of the challenging issues is balancing respect for the autonomy of a pregnant woman with concerns of beneficence and nonmaleficence for her and the fetus. The perceived benefit of cesarean section is protection of the pelvic floor. Increased rates of respiratory morbidity in infants born by cesarean section cannot be ignored. Societal concerns of distribution of resources must be considered in ongoing discussions of this critical issue. This article reviews the current ethical debate of maternal choice and autonomy in elective cesarean delivery.
Bibliography:	ObjectType-Article-2 SourceType-Scholarly Journals-1 ObjectType-Feature-3 content type line 23 ObjectType-Review-1
ISSN:	0095-5108 1557-9840
DOI:	10.1016/j.clp.2008.03.011